Well since my last post I had the pleasure of enduring another amazing experience of going deep in a live tournament, ironically enough one which I final tabled for the 3rd year in a row where I placed 8th, 4th and 5th respectively, WPT five diamond at bellagio. It was quite a bit different this year than years previous due to the re-entry aspect of which I managed to take advantage of to the tune of 3 bullets. Something I realized more in this tournament than any previous was how much adrenaline I had during the course of it. This was made obvious in retrospect due to my lack of appetite and inability to sleep as much as I normally do. It took a bit of re-calibration after the fact to return to what I consider the normalcy of my existence due to the lack of secretion of adrenaline for which I had 6 days in a row.

Another thing which seemed more obvious this go around than times previous is how much more able I am to feel confidence and understand the game of poker by immersing myself in the moment and entering a state of flow. It's a sort of state I'm sure everyone reading this has experienced at one time or another where the illusion of time is evaded and focus and concentration are the only things governing consciousness for this period. In a word, mindfulness is really what is being exhibited, a meditation on life for which the ability to dissect what's happening directly benefits the decision making process as a poker player. A large reason I don't update my twitter or check my phone during tournaments is to try and maintain this state as it is somewhat slow to onset and fragile once it does. That being said, I do really appreciate all the heart felt support from many of you and others.

Beyond poker I should mention that my gf and I recently got a puppy. She's 5 months old, super cute, loving and adorable. I had a dog growing up who recently passed and feel that being older gives me a much broader perspective of what it is to both be a dog owner and a dog. Dogs are funny creatures to observe, living almost purely off instinct. Rarely if ever do you see a dog in a position where it decides to ponder something deeply. Our ability as humans to have a conscious thought process and simultaneously be aware of it is truly fascinating and one which forces me when confronted with the fact of it to consider how it originated.

Certainly evolution is an undeniable ability of nature to progress forward and learn how to best deal with the situation of ones existence within its environment. One particularly thought provoking idea I've heard for the evolution of consciousness originates from the late great Terence Mckenna which he referred to as the 'stoned ape theory'. It theorizes that the doubling of the brain from primate to human was positively effected by the ingestion of psilocybin mushrooms, among of course many other factors of which the significance can only be speculated upon. For those of you who have ever had a psychedelic experience maybe you can relate to this in a way that I feel I'm able to as when I have these experiences I can see in myself the ways in which I evolve as an individual. My view of the world is retuned in a way to see things more objectively, empathically and specifically for the duration of the trip I'm much more able to grasp the idea that the cosmos is just one incomprehensibly large thing. Labels and boundaries dissolve before my eyes as I feel a part of everything and everything a part of me, essentially you merge with your environment which is why I find it particularly enthralling to have a psychedelic experience like this in a setting rich with nature. The novelty of such an experience is really difficult to describe within the construct of language because the subjective view each of us has of reality is just that, subjective, and the experience although transcendent to the subjectivity of perception to an extent is very different from person to person due to the individualistic nature of the psyche.

The fact that these technologies were used by many ancient cultures for various reasons and treated with a great deal of respect, as they should be, only intrigues me further. Cannabis is another ancient invaluable plant that I feel if used properly, of which I have been guilty not doing, can have drastically beneficial effects on creativity, objectivity and sensitivity. Medicinally it has heaps of benefits for the human body and mind and cannabinoids were used industrially for prescription medicine in the early 1900's. Cannabis has been shown to cure cancer which some poker playing friends of mine have recently funded themselves in two separate individuals. Another poker playing friend of mine who had struggled for years with the pharmaceutical alternatives and side effects of these drugs to treat a disease called ulcerative colitis is currently able to keep it in remission by using cannabis. Personally I see the benefits of cannabis on my stomach and digestive system. The cannabinoids in THC are also currently the best known cure for Alzheimer's disease.

Hemp, cannabis' male plant counterpart which is not psychoactive, is rich in essential fatty acids when eaten and can be used for fuel, paper, fire and pest resistant housing, environmentally sustainable farming and the list goes on. The first ford car was made and fueled by hemp, the declaration of independence was written on it and the ship Columbus sailed in on was built from it. I learned most of this from reading Jack Herer's 'The Emperor wears no clothes' which details the how and why the illegalization of this massively helpful plant occurred in the early 1900's. The gist of it was ironically the ease and productivity which it brings to the table that made it not nearly as profitable as all the replacements which society currently uses. Specifically the petrochemical and pharmaceutical companies were behind the movement which promoted anti-marijuana propaganda as they stood to make the most money by diverting consumer spending. Marijuana is actually a made up term which they thought would sound foreign and obscure to the then present culture.

The pharmaceutical companies and in a bigger picture sense the FDA are what I feel are the biggest crooks in our societal hierarchy. Having watched a really informative and objective documentary recently you can find on youtube called 'Marketing of Madness' that breaks down how psychotropics, or antidepressants, are marketed was truly mind blowing to me. The fact that so many doctors and people are for these without realizing that they actually have no proven benefits is an indication of what can be accomplished when you really devote your time to something that although in this case is incredibly poisonous, makes me inspired to imagine the opposite side of the spectrum. The film breaks down how the studies are almost all funded by the companies selling the drugs and the actual results covered up when they expose the obvious truth that these drugs are nothing more than mind numbing substances. I found it shocking that one of the studies cited showed they were less effective than placebos because of their side effects!

What the SSRI's(selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors) do is not allow the brain to drop below a certain level of serotonin which for a depressed person can feel uplifting. What they also do is cause addiction, ignore...

Greetings fellow inhabitants of the earth and others tuning in. Lately I have been incredibly fortunate to be a part, emotionally, physically and financially, of an event which is beyond once in a lifetime. As many of you know my good friend Greg Merson decided to ship the main event. Being there seeing it all finish brought on a deep calming feeling that came over as soon as he won, one which had been culminating throughout the entirety of the 2 days of play leading up to it, which had been culminating in the months before.

For someone who plays a lot of poker where the notion of pressure is accepted or agreed upon as something that one should feel, it is a unique feeling to be able to watch a friend perform in a scenario where exactly these circumstances are defining it. Knowing the hardships Greg has overcome in the course of his human existence leading him to this point make the victory all that much more satisfying. It honestly was so much more rewarding to have been a part of this than I would have previously thought. During the interviews while I was at the rio I was speechless, taking it all in and enjoying the moment. Watching them at home hours later brought me to tears though.

I think what it was that made this so special for me wasn't the money but the acknowledgement of someone facing difficulty, overcoming it and being rewarded. Assertion and accomplishment are two of the most emotionally rewarding things we as humans have to go by in terms of determining happiness as these are things we can control to an extent.

Beyond poker I have taken an extreme interest in rock climbing. I'm currently mostly bouldering at a local gym but plan to eventually move onto top roping, sport climbs, outdoor boulders etc. I find it to be a fascinating, mentally and physically challenging routine that calls on one to fully immerse themselves in their activity. Typing this reminds me of a book I read recently called 'Mindfullness' by Ellen J. Langer. The essential message of the book, which is backed up by case studies that bring to light surprising results about the human psyche, is to do not many things at once with one mindset but one thing at a time with many mindsets. Additionally the profound effects of thoughts, both negative and positive on the physical body and abilities it can't or can perform. I'm also reminded of an article(http://danhuff.info/creative-visuali...s-performance/) which I came across after a conversation about an identical topic that deals with this realm of mental focus pertaining to free throws in basketball. The gist of this is that in a study conducted at the university of chicago, it was shown that visualizing making free throws and physically practicing them showed an increase of 23% and 24% respectively. The idea that our thoughts are this powerful is humbling to me.

One thing in particular that I like about climbing which differs a lot from poker is the ability to be able to compete without competitors. While climbing, you are only trying to out do yourself and improve upon the previous success you've had. Something about the underlying financial reality to the surface which is simply poker has always felt somewhat weird to me. I don't feel bad when I beat people nor do I want them to feel bad for me, but inevitably winning is more fun than losing. That being said though I feel that losses feel worse than wins feel good. I imagine this has something to do with the fact that most successful poker players expect to win. When I climb I can never feel this sense of loss on the far right of a win-loss continuum. I do however feel a much warmer sense of loss which on the continuum lies somewhere closer towards the middle. This is a feeling which I can easily enjoy as it is a motivator to challenge and improve myself.

I think writing this has allowed me to realize that playing poker for fun makes it easier to succeed than when playing with money as the primary goal. Easier said than done however because of money being the necessary evil for which we are all drawn to the game. In climbing however people are drawn to it because of the allure of accomplishing something which at first seems dauntingly difficult.

I don't mean to say that poker isn't an amazing game, one which I will continue to play and enjoy for the future, I simply intend to point of the subtle differences between two activities which have caught my interest. I think trying to rank things like this is a bit wasteful as well, since it is primarily subjectivity expressed, and furthermore one is not inherently better or worse in any way, they are just different.

Peace, love and respect - namaste friends

Greetings loyal readers, I want to first address the juice cleanse I discussed in the previous blog. Along with this my general thoughts on diet and nutrition have changed, more on this in a second though. The juice cleanse was not really so much of a cleanse as it was me torturing myself for lack of calories and high sugar intake given the juices I was recommended for 3 days before giving in and eating solids again. Yes it was a bad idea but I do believe I learned from it. I think a more effective cleanse would be to do something that involves a moderate caloric intake of mostly raw foods, little to no sugars, no carbs and still plenty of veggies, in juice form if preferred, while supplementing with herbs that are designed to cleanse colon/liver/intestines and vitamins/minerals that support and regulate bodily function.

Regarding regular consumption of food I've realized though that I can't claim any diet is better or worse than anything else given the lack of empirical evidence I have, as well as the large amount of people in opposing groups claiming that differing diets are substantially effective for them.

On the one hand the raw foodists who do it right and get the essential amino acids, minerals and vitamins leading to outstanding results seem to crush. On the other there are the paleo advocates who actually agree with much of the raw guys claims about soaking/sprouting nuts/seeds and large intake of veggies. They diverge on the whole debate of whether eating meat/fish/eggs are good/bad/necessary, and to a lesser extent fruit intake is condemned by paleo'ers while it's essential for raw fellas.

Personally I can't come up with good enough reason not to eat quality meat/fish/eggs, specifically because they are delicious and nutrient dense. I think a good test as to whether your body wants something or not is to deprive it of it for some time and then see how it reacts to it after a period of withdraw. For me I could tell there were some minor adjustments with my body digesting the meat/fish/eggs but not in an uncomfortable way. A bit over a month ago when I decided raw veganism was the way to go I experienced a similar effect of noticeable change in digestion for a short period of time without uncomfortability, which I take to mean that both options are viable and the body just takes some time to adjust to what it is exposed to.

To briefly touch on the ethical dilemma of eating meat, it is something I can't really get behind because plants were once living too until they were plucked out of the ground. To me, just because they are unable to move around doesn't mean they are not conscious on some level we can't understand or identify. Once this is established the moral waters for dieting become murky and you end up having to become fruitarian if you want to try to let those underneath you in the food chain prosper, and further down the line you can become liquidarian, setting you up for a nice life without any nutritional consumption as a breatharian.

Although I'm somewhat joking, it does appear that some special humans on our planet can pull this off. Specifically Prahlad Jani, who left home at the age of 7 to live in the jungle. I don't think we fully understand our connection to nature, the universe and what we are capable of with our minds, though whether or not this is actually possible or someone with an agenda is unclear to me. I do believe in suspending judgement when faced with a ridiculous idea because sometimes the truth can make your head spin.

One thing I find especially interesting about a documentary that premiered in Austria in 2010 called in the beginning there was light, or am anfang war das licht, is that in the preview at :26 where Prahlad Jani is shown you can see how dilated his eyes are. I relate this to the dilation of ones eyes when on a psychedelic and can't help but wonder if his eyes are like this because he is operating on another level of consciousness or a heightened state of awareness for which we as mere mortal calorie consuming humans are unconscious to, much like the effects of a mind altering substance until it is ingested.

All I know is that I don't know, and that's enough for me to keep searching for knowledge across the board.

Since my last blog I headed out to LA to play lapc and do some cali travel. I managed to get up to 10x starting(300k) before losing a huge pot where i open 44 in lj, shaun deeb calls hj, jason sommerville calls sb, arieh calls bb, AQ4r I cb 1/3 pot jason calls, turn 6 bringing fd jason cc 1/2 pot, riv 2o jason chks i bet 72 into about 100 and he jams effectively putting me in for 165 more. Quite a puzzling spot considering I have such a good hand relative to what he could be expected to turn up with. I tanked for a couple minutes before calling and losing to qq. It seems as if he may not jam aq and if that's the case I definitely made a bad call.

After this me and Ryan(g0lfa) headed down the coast to chill in oceanside for a few days before heading down to san diego where we met up with clayton who introduced us to some friends who were nice enough to let me crash on their couch for the week. I had an amazing time in san diego largely because the people I stayed with are super cool but also because the city itself has a lot to offer. The people are laid back as a result of having great food and warm weather all year.

Ryan and I went to the zoo one day which made me realize how sad it is for some of the animals to be so enclosed when they are meant to roam vast landscapes and catch their own food. In particular there was a mountain tiger who seemed to have a pretty small cage. While looking at him 2 different families came by with babies and each time he perked up and started pacing back and forth quickly. Guess it makes sense for tigers to be able to sense when young are around. Ryan left to go back to ny and for the rest of the week I did a mix of rock climbing and yoga, played basketball once and maintained my diet as best I could but the 2 sushi meals I had out there were really incredible.

I decided that I don't want to be vegan for the purpose of the title, I just want to be as healthy as I can and avoid meat and fish for the most part where I previously would just try to eat meat or fish over anything else. The things I've generally been consuming are green juice, (wheatgrass, parsley, cucumber, apple, spinach, kale), coconut almond smoothie(can also put it in microwave for 30 seconds and eat it warm with granola - almond, coconut flesh, coconut water, banana, strawberry, blueberry, organic protein mix), raw tacos(walnut and pumpkin seeds mixed with cumin, garlic, and sea salt to act as the 'meat', chard leaves as the shell, and any mix of fruits and vegetables. Most recently I used kiwi, mango, zucchini, cauliflower, avocado), and finally for a quick snack I spread hummus on an ezekiel tortilla add chia, hemp and sunflower seeds and enjoy.

In addition to the enjoyment I've had from making some of my own meals it's also really fun to be creative and see what goes together and what doesn't. I want to put cacao in my next smoothie and take out strawberry/blueberry to create a chocolatey flavor I think.

After getting back to vegas I played the wynn classic where I was able to hang on for 4 days of generally action packed poker and get 4th for a bit under 80k. Definitely ran well winning two flips early in the tourney and getting aa vs jj for big pot on final table bubble but couldn't pull through in the biggest all in situations where I lost kk to qq for 1/3 of chips in play 5 handed, got aq in vs ak for 25bbs 4 handed for about the same amount and finally lost a6o to kts for slightly less to bust. Isaac Baron went on to win who is a beast of a player in his own right so congrats to him.

In other news, I've been eagerly continuing my search to uncover that which should be well known but is not. I'm quite concerned about chemtrails or geoengineering, which is essentially the act of spraying chemicals(generally largely composed of aluminum and barium) in an attempt to stop global warming. The idea that any group of people thinks they can try to control nature at the expense of polluting our human environment even further is mind bending to say the least. In my humble opinion the biosphere is something greater than us which we should allow to function as it may, though if something is going to be done on such a large scale the project shouldn't be negotiated in private and the public at large should be kept aware of the obvious risks. To me it seems almost too ridiculous to be true - how can something so absurd be done when the downside is obvious and harsh yet the upside is unapparent. Here's the website linked in the documentary I watched on the topic - http://www.coalitionagainstgeoengineering.org/. There are plenty of stories in the doc outlining the problems this is already causing which make the future seem very dim.

Personally I'm enjoying myself very much recently though I can't help but think and worry at times about the future. Seems like there are so many problems some of which are only getting worse. An uplifting and insightful article I read recently which doesn't specifically outline the ways in which geoengineering would be held back but seems like it would cover the topic is here - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0316195338.htm.

Despite the healthy eating binge I've been on tomorrow I start a 5 day juice cleanse. I think this will clean my system out really well and make me feel pretty incredible at the end of it. I decided besides the obvious benefits in being as healthy as I can I'd like to to minimize or potentially eliminate my allergies to cats and dogs. I don't even know if it's possible but there are incredibly inspiring videos on the internet of people preaching about overcoming life debilitating diseases as a result of diet change so I'm hopeful. Here is one I saw recently about a lady who beat MS - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgB...layer_embedded.

Here's to a future with clean blue skies free of disease and suffering

greetings loyal blog readers. since my poker success in december ive had what is perhaps the greatest epiphany in my life to date by opening my eyes to the world around me and understanding what is reality and what is illusion. i started yoga which was a huge first step in the right direction because being one with your body is something which many seem to overlook. im beginning to learn how to meditate and channel the infinite power which we contain and often suppress as a result of not really knowing it's there with all the distractions in a modern industrialized society. imo it is a serious hinderance not only to us but everyone around us and humanity as a whole.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5tVqn1Mocs lou corona a man who i consider a hero. he truly gets life and works towards being a better person always, in all aspects. hes been eating raw foods since 21 and when he started he was not in pretty bad shape. since changing his diet he's slowed the aging process and maintained vitality and strength to a degree which most 60 year olds could only dream of. ive been eating a raw diet and will continue to as long as i keep seeing positive results. im so tired of being a slave to the usda and eating meats and other processed foods that contain so many chemicals which are poison to the body all because monsanto wants to mass produce cheap food at the expense of human health to make money. this has led me to start eating a raw organic diet in which im buying local foods from hard working people who desire to have profitable businesses with the best interest of their customers in mind.

when i think about it though it really makes sense. was it really a natural urge for humans to kill animals for nourishment or has it been done with another agenda in mind? native americans killed buffalo but they had a grasp on what they were doing and seemed to feel responsible in some way for taking another life which compelled them to act as shown in the following - '...provided tribes with critical supplies of nutritious meat and warm hides that allowed them to survive the region’s harsh winters. But flesh and skin weren’t the only prizes: tribes learned to use virtually every part of the animal, from horns to tail hairs...' http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episo...oduction/2183/

if you read you will see the way white settlers began to suppress the native man(besides genocide) through depriving them of buffalo, holding contests to kill them, beginning the national distribution of meat and using the hides to appease the early consumer. many of you may already know this stuff but to me it is interesting to explore the honest history of the way things came to be.

unfortunately, i believe that the same suppressive regime that took over this continent then still has a strong impact and agenda today which is achieved through television, advertisements, entertainment industry and public education. i fully understand that through these mediums some great things have been done from great minds, but i believe it's foolish to think there aren't people who control these and send messages that if the true meaning behind was brought to light would infuriate the public at large. im not just talking about the nightly news here, im talking about the way these are used to shape beliefs and society as a whole. i believe that if people were more understanding of one another, willing to help and hold less contempt and anger humanity would see a drastic change for the better.

i imagine a world without suffering, war, suppression and discrimination. where people all across the planet are working towards making it a better place. society and individual communities flourishes with knowledge and the advancement of technology. not the current dumb downed world which exists as a reality for too many people who are so interested in the life of others(reality tv etc) they lose track of who they are and what their own wants, needs and desires are. to me, this understanding is a huge step in the right direction because if people don't know that problems exist there will be no one working to solve them.

peace love and respect my friends. lets all do what we can to preserve our relationships with the planet, our friends, family, loved ones and of course our selves.

Hey guys, I'll quickly summarize how my life progressed after my last entry: got back to vegasand grinded live cash, took a trip to LA for a week to play cash/tournies and including some RPM grinding I won a small amount of money and decided I was over live poker for a little while and ready to get back online. I skipped the euro tournaments for the first time in 3 years to go to Toronto and play wcoops. Definitely happy with my decision to do so as was I with my play/results/work ethic for the time I spent there. Took close to 3 weeks off around thanksgiving and came back to vegas to play wpt 5 diamond where I got 8th last year as well as epic pokers 3rd event, not having lasted more than 2 levels in either of the first two epic events. Needless to say after being away from poker for so long I was really excited to get playing again. It's a unique feeling coming back to play, live especially, after having taken a long break from it. There's just something special about the atmosphere of a major live tournament and when you go without feeling it for a while it's relaxing in a way to experience it again.

First up was 5 diamond where I steadily increased my stack day by day winning three flips with pairs vs overcards(small favorite yo) for my tourney life before busting 2 people in a huge pot at the end of day 4 where hj who had been tight opened with around 600k to 35 at 8-16k, I made it 80 in the co w kk, btn flatted with around 1m, bb shoves for 240k, opener reshoves, I cover and jam as well and btn folds jj. I hold and get up to over 2m and begin day 5 2nd in chips with 15 remaining. The day went long and was especially brutal getting close to the tv bubble with short stacks doubling on more than a few occasions. Eventually it burst when chipleader made a straight vs trips and jammed the river and I was on the my first ever WPT ft! It was a ridiculously tough ft considering how the field looked at the beginning of day 1 and Antonio Esfandiari was going for the repeat having won it the year previous. The ft actually progressed really quickly and before the first break the tournament had gone heads up. I didn't play any interesting pots and busted cold 4betting 88 vs btn open and sb 3bet when btn called w 99(dominating my suits too wtf). I was so happy with how I played I just couldn't be upset with busting when the big pots I lost were all in pots.

With only 2 days before epic began I got hammered on Monday and slept most of Tuesday before getting a great dinner at everyones favorite thai spot Lotus of Siam. Much like bellagio went I was able to increase my stack slowly day by day in epic though on both days 2 and 3 I lost most of what I started with at the beginning of the day and grinded it back up throughout. Day 3 was when things really started moving along as the bubble burst much quicker than expected when my buddy Joe Tehan decided to make a bold move with 24o after utg 5 handed shoved 16bb and next to act isolated to 30bb, he ripped it in with 24o in the bb for around 90bb effective though he covered both. Isolater calls w qq, open shover has aa and board comes out 964-4-x. With that we were down to 12 and in the money as well as playing 4 handed for the rest of the tournament except the beginning of the final table which would be 5 handed. At the start of day 4 I was fortunate to get qq to 88 for a huge pot and then 88 to 33 to bust a player. I then flopped a boat with a2 on aa2 only to get checkraised by the bb who then cc a turn j bringing a bdfd and cr 75k to 205 on a t river, I called and beat TT. After that I called a 3b w kq and floated a t52 flop, turned a king and called again and shoved when checked to on a 9 river and got tank called by at. Shortly after we were down to 8 and combined to two tables of 4, but it didn't take long to bust 3 players and the very last hand of the day after the 6th place player had already been eliminated I called a 3b w aj and bet bet bet when the 3bettor checked every street to me on a84dd3djo and got called by worse giving me 1.7m going into the final table at 3k-6k blinds(!!!) with 5m in play. The final table was a pretty interesting one to say the least and although there were quite a few interesting hands I'll wait to talk about them publicly until the tournament airs.

So yeah, I've been grinding hard these past few months and will be making a return to the bahamas for the nth year in a row once 2011 ends in an attempt to finally have a winning trip there due to my own successes, but with this heater going it shouldn't be too much of a struggle this time around

The wsop ended in non dramatic fashion though I had a shot to score big in the last 1500 where I ended up getting around 80th. This and a 50th in one of the 1ks were my only two cashes for the summer amounting to 7182 and 7152 respectively. I was able to swap good and get some money back in a main event draft thanks to leggopokers own Richard Lyndaker and Ben Tollerene as well as the doctor himself David Sands.

After wsop I headed out to Miami to visit Caity and play the Florida state poker championship which included a 2k 6max and a 5k main event. The 6max had around 80 runners and I managed to stick around until 4-800 and had a really soft table with position on the only other competent player. Got put in some unlucky situations and busted in around 30th. Caity and I met up with leggo member toocrispy and leggo coach sc00t. one day for dinner and drinks and I did some other serious relaxing in my time off until the main event at a ridiculously baller house some friends rented which probably boded rather well for me.

I finished day 1 with 74k going into 4-800. Only played 1 particularly hilarious hand on day 1 where I got moved to a new table and the first 4 pots this young guy wins at a table full of old guys, the fifth pot he opens I 3b T9s oop at 50-100 blinds and he calls. Flop is KQJ with my flush draw(this is how you succeed in tournaments) I bet 1350 he raises me to 3550 I call, turn goes check check on a 6 bringing 2nd fd and on a blank 6 river I bet 6250 and he insta shoves for 18kish total. I stick the money in and he insta mucks what the dealer turns up shortly after, A9o.

Day 2 I got put in some incredibly fortunate situations with sets and boats and finished w 695k going into 4-8k w 30 left and 29 paying. The most awesome hand of the day featured me getting in TT v 99 on a QT88 board for an 800k pot at 3-6k. I think the old guy who spewed it in on the turn was angry at me for calling clock a few hands earlier. On day 3 with around 20 left I lost a 400kish pot at 5-10k with aq to kq aipf, rebuilt to over a million and eventually opened button to a minraise at 10-20k w 77 and got 3b to 111k from a seemingly competent regular. With stacks around 900k effective I decided to call and called 103k on 944r, turn T bringing fd and I bet 100k when he checked to which he flatted. We checked down on a Qo riv and his AA was good. The direct next hand I lost a flip ak v jj in co v btn for ~1.3m of 9.3m in play and was down to 5bb, eventually shoved 89s in co and couldn't beat A8o. 11th felt like a huge disappointment but I was so happy with my play throughout I knew I couldn't really be upset.

As I'm writing this I'm on a plane about to touchdown in Vegas where I'll be playing the upcoming epic poker league taking place at the palms. For those of you who don't know about the EPL you should check it out and try to qualify for next season because it's pretty awesome. Basically there are 4 20k main events(6 max, 8 max, heads up, and a tournament starting 9 handed, going to 6max and eventually becoming heads up) with 400k added prizepool money that have restricted access to EPL cardholders as well as a pro-am 1500 where anyone can play and the final table of 9 will be granted access to the main event with the remaining money paid out like a normal tournament, so it's like a satellite/tournament combo. At the end of the 4 main events the top 27 finishers will be entered into a million dollar free roll. CBS and discovery are going to be covering these tournaments which should hopefully be pretty sweet. If anyone's interested you can see a list of the card qualifiers and some other stuff about the league on the epicpokerleague.com website. Heres to me crushing some fools!

Since the shutdown of online poker as we know it I've experienced a wide variety of emotions. I try not to feel entitled because it seems like an awful way to go about things but I really do feel robbed that I can't play poker online anymore. I now have a pretty huge gap in my life which was once filled by online poker for many hours day in and day out that now has to be filled by...live poker.

I think for all the good things online poker brought me it effected me in other ways which I was blind to at the time. It was basically too good to be true, logging tons of hours and playing infinite hands in the comfort of my home, playing as many tables as I wanted. I think online poker was a video game and many of the nuances do not carry over to live poker and vice versa. What I'm trying to say is that it spoiled me and made poker into something that it had never been before.

I feel silly equating it to something so extreme but the analogy I'm imagining is some sort of hardcore drug user who has been getting bombed off the same stuff from the same guy every day for years. Then all of a sudden his guy just doesn't have strong drugs anymore, all he has is stuff that is 1/10th as effective as what he previously was indulging in. The obvious difference is that without online poker I don't feel any physical withdrawls but mentally I am definitely struggling a bit. I am certainly experiencing an interesting adjustment period playing so much more live poker than I have before but at the end of the day all it does is make me miss online poker more and more. I am excited to play live poker and try to improve as much as I can because it truly is a different beast than the internet but the process is pretty grueling at times.

Live poker is definitely more of an emotional game despite how much I remove my emotions from poker. I acknowledge the fact that my life would be nothing close to what it is now if poker never existed but it's hard to remain that objective on a day to day basis. Patience is a virtue though and it's never been more relevant for me to maintain it.

As some of you may know I was recently on NBC's poker after dark. The thing about TV poker that makes it so great is that there are rarely times where you are playing serious poker for lots of money and are then able to then figure out what your opponents had after the fact. As you may imagine sometimes this results in your hero looking awesome, sometimes it results in him looking like an idiot, and ultimately it results in durrrr taking his chips with suited hands containing a deuce. Certainly though in the process plenty of interesting hands occurred that are worth discussion.

In the first relevant hand Annette opens it up for 1500 utg1, I make it 4100 otb w A4o and she calls, stacks are roughly 50k. Flop A67r chk chk, turn 7o she bets 6k I call, river J she bets 15k and I call. Going into this hand Annette had been by far the most aggressive at the table, though it is a short sample and I didn't think she was playing too far outside a normal range. With this information available though she has more incentive to defend my 3bet with a wider range. On the flop I don't really think a bet from me will accomplish enough to make it better than a check. Pretty standard situation where she either has something crushing me to 3 or less outs, or has 2 or less outs herself with a pocket pair or broadway cards. When I check back this flop she can pretty confidently assume I have some sort of showdown value(or slowplaying a monster) as betting a bluff will simply be so profitable because of how often she misses this board. On the turn I am not loving my hand because I'm only beating bluffs but I know she is very aggressive and could see her betting some of the hands that missed assuming it will be difficult to call down with Ax/KK type hands. After the river comes a jack and she barrels again it really boils down to deciding if shell ever try to bluff me and I think she definitely has it in her to do so especially because she knows I'm calling turn with the hands I pot controlled. Having an ace makes it combinatorially less likely she has one, and although I expect her to defend my 3b quite a bit pre I think a suited hand with a 7 is a decent candidate for a 4bet. Basically it boils down to the fact that if she decides to bluff turn she can get to the river with her entire preflop range, which is at the very least 50% of her opening range in my estimation. Eventually I decide to call after thinking for over a minute and maybe 2 and she mucks what I later found out was 55. I think given my flop check and the board pairing turn her bluff is ambitious but given we have logged lots of hands together and she is generally not so out of line in these situations so it was a pretty decent spot. It would be interesting to see if I call KK under the same circumstances as having an ace really does significantly reduce the combinations of better hands she can hold and sometimes gets me half the pot(rare but plausible).

After this I don't play any relevant hands until I open KQo no club to 2k utg at 4-8 and Tom flats in the BB after being tight previous to leaving the table for an orbit or two, stacks are 55k or so and I cover. He also tanks a bit before flatting making me think there is at least some chance he was going to 3bet. Flop comes QcJx2c and he cr my 3k to 9600 and after some thought I fold. I'd say this was by far the closest hand of the session and after much deliberation I'm still not certain what my best option is. Something I am certain of is that once I see that 27s is in his range pre in this spot my fold is obviously not justified so it makes it hard to try and do so, but without knowing that would be the case and not really feeling like my hand was strong enough to stack off I believe there will be many situations where I make a mistake on a later street assuming he knows what my hand strength is likely to be and plays accordingly. I definitely do think checking flop is a very viable option but felt at the time that he would peel enough hands I'm in great shape against I just couldn't help myself.

A bit after this at 6-12 we play a hand where Tom opens co to 2800 I flat btn and Mel calls BB. I have 9Thh and stacks are 40k or so. Flop A56r and we chk around. Turn is a 2 bringing a fd not mine and when it checks to me I bet 4500 into 9k, Mel folds and Tom calls. I thought it was a spot where if he was giving up on the flop he'd be giving up on the turn too most of the time and Mel is almost certainly not gonna have anything good. River is a 4o and I bet 10.2k then snapfold when Tom makes it 27k. He ends up having 33, would be really interesting to see what he does on a Jo river for example. Obv if he calls me I'm totally owning myself but it's a pretty tough spot for him to lookup especially when I had been pretty in line and am credibly repping lots of better hands with my line.

Later in this level I open co to 2700 with QhQx, Tom makes it 7900 in the BB and I flat after much deliberation with around 55k. I think stacks are a bit awkward for a 4bet and my hand obviously is going to play very well on lots of flops. Flop comes Ax4h3h and I call 9600. Turn is a 5o chk chk, and when the river comes the Kh and he chks I bet 14.5k. I think my bet is okay because since I am unsure of his frequencies in this spot if he thinks I'm bluffing he may call JJ/TT and if he doesn't he may fold Kx. Furthermore I think not showing down my hand is pretty advantageous for me and I am good a very large % to begin with. The obvious problem is that it's pretty hard for me to be bluffing but I could see some instances where I turn up with hands worse than TT and go for it.

After this Tom opens co to 3800 w 44k at 8-16 and I call btn w A6cc. Flop is 844cc, he bets 5600 and I call. I think raising here is certainly fine but I'm pretty sure given the dynamic we had I'm better of inducing a turn bet from stuff I beat. Turn is a 5o and when he bets 11.4k I shove and get snapped by 82. I think his call is a bit thin since but he is getting like almost 3:1 at this point. I also think I have to shove cause we just don't have enough money left to play a river and when I get it in vs a hand like he had I have 15 outs, so if he folds like ever(which he will) I am doing a good job of protecting my equity.

As I'm writing this up I'm feeling the calming feeling of binking 107k for 2nd in the warmup. Let the heater begin!

Hope everyone is doing well. Just wanted to shout out my Twitter account and some new videos in the pipeline. My $1,000 NL heads up battle vs Denny made for a very entertaining video. He is a smart aggressive player who definitely has a few tricks in the bag. I also have a leak finder with JaymesBond coming out soon. The video I am most excited about is half hand history review (all hands where villain flats a 3 bet) and then I play 4 tables of 600NL and get street on fools for the second half of the video.

In other news, I am very happy with how my beard is progressing. More updates to follow.